Avicularia Avicularia breeding project

klawfran3 · Mar 4, 2015

now that my female is finally mature (5") I've decided it is time to start breeding her. After doing research, I believe I have come up with a plan. Is this good?

Introduce male multiple times a week until female stops being receptive.
Feed heavily and Wait for her to lay a sac
Keep humidity high and disturbances low
Pull the sac at around 50 days or so
Keep slings together until second instar and then separate in to individual enclosures.

Have I missed anything or is it that simple?
Thanks again, the only time I've had to care for a sac before was when one of my WC G. Roseas dropped a sac that turned out to be a dud.

After being in the hobby so long I can't wait to start breeding them and expanding my collection.

Misty Day · Mar 5, 2015

klawfran3 said:
Introduce male multiple times a week until female stops being receptive.

This sounds like a good way to get your male killed. What if after the breeding she molts and doesn't lay a sac. You won't have a male to re-breed her. One pairing is enough, how much sperm do you think she can hold? You can't really tell that a female isn't receptive until it's too late.

fuzzyavics72 · Mar 5, 2015

I disagree. Once might happen in the wild, but I breed every female at least 3-5 times. My male p metallica just made 8 sperm webs with his mate. They've been cohabitation together for three months.

A male can easily be eaten the first time. Don't breed your female's when they're about to molt (common sense) usually males won't live to the next molt of a female...

Poec54 · Mar 5, 2015

fuzzyavics72 said:
I disagree. Once might happen in the wild, but I breed every female at least 3-5 times.

And I disagree. I pair up my females only once (per year). Their pouch can only hold so much sperm, and I don't want to risk males being killed from repeated pairings, as I want them to be around in case the female sheds.

just1moreT · Mar 5, 2015

Poec54 said:
And I disagree. I pair up my females only once (per year). Their pouch can only hold so much sperm, and I don't want to risk males being killed from repeated pairings, s I want them to be around in case the female sheds.

Makes since on the capacity, I still like to do at least pair 2 times

fuzzyavics72 · Mar 5, 2015

Well I've produced a lot of sacs and had minimal losses to my method. Whatever works for you Poec. I totally respect you, but I love breeding my males a bit.

I had 21 B vagans egg sacs at one point and not one male eaten. Each female was bred 5 or 6 times. After all said it done we had 19 good sacs.

Also note mature male's aren't good forever. If your female molts nine months from now your mature male is useless. I've tried. I've had most of my male's live 14 months, but they're too weak to breed.

Poec54 · Mar 5, 2015

just1moreT said:
Makes sense on the capacity, I still like to do at least pair 2 times

On breeding loans, many people like to pair up their females 2 or 3 times ('just to be sure'), and that's almost always when my males get killed. I don't think it's worth it.

klawfran3 · Mar 5, 2015

I'm just worried that I don't get a successful pairing and the sac is unfertilized/ a dud. I assume only pairing once or twice then?

The female molted about a month/ month and a half ago, so I believe she is hardened up and ready to mate, and I have a feeling that any mature males won't last until her next molt unless she molts a year early. So not really a chance of her ditching the sperm, I'm just mostly concerned that the eggs won't get fully fertilized.
A lot of the breeding reports involve multiple pairings, that's why I brought it up. Thank you all for your helpful comments so far.

Poec54 · Mar 5, 2015

klawfran3 said:
I'm just worried that I don't get a successful pairing and the sac is unfertilized/ a dud. I assume only pairing once or twice then?

This kind of 'Nervous Nellie' worrying leads to over-pairing and the unnecessary slaughter of many males every year. Plus some of those people shoot themselves in the foot, as they've lost their male during all those pairings and the female sheds without laying a sac. You could probably improve your chances by the same amount by carrying a rabbit's foot and wearing your 'lucky underwear.'

fuzzyavics72 · Mar 5, 2015

Also every time I had a male eaten, my female's produced a nice massive sac. Male's give a ton of nourishment to the female and her offspring.

just1moreT · Mar 5, 2015

Some males and females just seem to get along no matter how many legs they have ,and then there some that will eat you in a heart beat lol .l have a A hentzi MM Been livin with my MF since October I couldn't tell you how many times they hooked up

---------- Post added 03-05-2015 at 11:08 AM ----------

fuzzyavics72 said:
Also every time I had a male eaten, my female's produced a nice massive sac. Male's give a ton of nourishment to the female and her offspring.

Yep on that makes for biggins and nice healthy looking slings

Poec54 · Mar 5, 2015

fuzzyavics72 said:
Also every time I had a male eaten my female's produced a nice massive sac. Male's give a ton of nourishment to the female and her offspring.

You can get more nutrition from feeding the female an assortment of roaches, crickets, and superworms then from a leggy, scrawny male spider. Besides, if the female molts, what do you do for a male? The 'Let him get eaten' theory can be exactly why you don't get a sac. I learned this with L violaceopes: I paired up my big female for one night, and she molted within a few months. I still had the male (because I didn't leave him in until he got eaten), and re-paired them, again for only one night. She double-clutched; I got one sac in the summer and another in the fall, total of 250 slings. Two big sacs (slings were almost 1" at 2nd instar) from one pairing! Had I followed the 'Leave him in there' and 'Keep re-pairing her' theories, I'd have had zero slings. So, it's not really good advice for most people.

---------- Post added 03-05-2015 at 12:12 PM ----------

just1moreT said:
Yep on that makes for biggins and nice healthy looking slings

Or no slings.

Avicularia Avicularia breeding project

klawfran3

Arachnolord

Misty Day

Arachnobaron

fuzzyavics72

Arachnobaron

Poec54

Arachnoemperor

just1moreT

Arachnobaron

fuzzyavics72

Arachnobaron

Poec54

Arachnoemperor

klawfran3

Arachnolord

Poec54

Arachnoemperor

fuzzyavics72

Arachnobaron

just1moreT

Arachnobaron

Poec54

Arachnoemperor